Dhenkanal: Deliberate attempt to kill tusker, says DFO

DHENKANAL: Forest officials arrested Biswajit Arjend Kumar Jena in connection with the electrocution of a tusker in his mango orchard at Gobindaprasad village. He was produced before the SDJM Dhenkanal court which granted him bail on Monday.The tusker was found dead in Jena’s mango orchard around the solar fencing. The tusker had come in contact with a LT line and died.

The postmortem, prime facie, reveals this is a clear case of electrocution. Though local inputs are being verified, DFO Prakash Chand Gogineni said it was a deliberate attempt to kill the tusker. “We submitted evidence before court apart from other evidence,” he said.

The forest officials also verified that the solar fencing was overcharged to 20 kv instead of the specified 9 kv at the spot which violates guidelines. “Solar fencing should have been charged at a certain level but ground reports show it was overcharged for which we gathered evidence and indicated in the report. This apart, other wild animals are targeted in the lane,” he said.

Forest department is now investigating if owner of the mango orchard encroached village forest. The land will be measured within 10 days and returned to official records soon. The DFO said, applications of technology will be done on the spot and measurement of the land will be carried out.

Elephant found dead
Berhampur: A tusker was found dead near Lathipada village under North Ghumusur forest division on Monday. Locals first spotted the carcass of the 25-year-old elephant near a mango orchard in the morning. On being informed, forest officials along with veterinary team and police reached spot and conducted postmortem. Though the reason of the tusker’s death is yet to be ascertained, it is suspected that the elephant died of electrocution as an 11 kv power line passes near the spot.